Third-party wheels

[6cyl]

What's the general consensus on them?
Referring to the no-name ones, not the BBS and Ronal.

AMG, Brabus style ones you find on ebay for £650-£1200
Are they worth buying? Am I asking for trouble?
Staying the same size, 19"

I like the look of them, don't want to spend £3k plus for an original set.
Refurb costs for diamond cut wheels are horrendous, circa £550, hence considering alternatives.

My preferences is for OE wheels.

 

[SpikyMikey]

What's the general consensus on them?
Referring to the no-name ones, not the BBS and Ronal.

AMG, Brabus style ones you find on ebay for £650-£1200
Are they worth buying? Am I asking for trouble?
Staying the same size, 19"

I like the look of them, don't want to spend £3k plus for an original set.
Refurb costs for diamond cut wheels are horrendous, circa £550, hence considering alternatives.

My preferences is for OE wheels.

Depends how lucky you feel I guess.Some will be great, some will be made of chocolate. But then some OEM wheels are also made of chocolate. I'm looking at you, BMW.

 

[WilliamMaldivess211]

What's the general consensus on them?
Referring to the no-name ones, not the BBS and Ronal.

AMG, Brabus style ones you find on ebay for £650-£1200
Are they worth buying? Am I asking for trouble?
Staying the same size, 19"

I like the look of them, don't want to spend £3k plus for an original set.
Refurb costs for diamond cut wheels are horrendous, circa £550, hence considering alternatives.

My preferences is for OE wheels.

You could just have you diamond cut wheels powdered coated - much cheaper, but loose the nicer look. In my opinion

 

[ALFAitalia]

Looking at the number of cracked and bent wheels wheels reported on this very site I find it hard to believe that the aftermarket ones could be much worse!! TBH I don't think the strength of them is the issue with cheaper aftermarket ones.....its the quality of finish and how long they keep their looks and possibly the weight of them compared to quality ones. Does Mercedes even make there own alloys?.....many marques don't. If I was buying new there is no way Id get Mercedes ones....for their price you can get some pretty high end aftermarket wheels. I'm sure there will be a certain standard that all after market wheel have to comply with to be sold here.....especially in this nanny state!!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Inexpensive aftermarket alloy wheels - including replicas of Mercedes, AMG and Brabus wheels - are often significantly heavier than the original equivalent. Heavy wheels are bad news for almost a gazillion reasons.

I used to lend a set of wheels to my main dealer from time to time when customers with aftermarket wheels would complain about something and not believe them when they said it was the wheels causing it. It was.

 

[T5R+]

AlfaI is correct - many MB alloys are made by the well respected alloy wheel manufacturers.

To my eyes - diamond cut alloys look just sublime.

There are some great custom wheels on E classes in the USA and also some of the European specialists have nice wheels.

Aftermarket alloys are available but you need to ensure that of decent quality.

 

[Spider10]

If you want good quality wheel's try wheel mania there knowledge is off the chart and are reasonably priced I had a set for my c63 and they sorted all the ofsets etc so no need for spacers

 

[OneForTheRoad]

What's the general consensus on them?
Referring to the no-name ones, not the BBS and Ronal.

AMG, Brabus style ones you find on ebay for £650-£1200
Are they worth buying? Am I asking for trouble?
Staying the same size, 19"

I like the look of them, don't want to spend £3k plus for an original set.
Refurb costs for diamond cut wheels are horrendous, circa £550, hence considering alternatives.

My preferences is for OE wheels.

Have a look at GB wheels on eBay . All originals sourced from mb dealer returns . Some used and refurbished to outstanding condition.

 

[RichardF]

If the wheels are serviceable and just need a cosmetic refurb then I'd stick with OE.
The car is only original once, I'm always wary of cars that have been buggered about with. If you damage an aftermarket wheel, you may have to replace the whole set (happened to me with an obscure 'AMG style')

 

[SmartAmg]

Nowt wrong with aftermarket wheels.
And believe me I've had some over the years. So talking from experience. And never had any trouble, with any of them.

 

[SmartAmg]

If the wheels are serviceable and just need a cosmetic refurb then I'd stick with OE.
The car is only original once, I'm always wary of cars that have been buggered about with. If you damage an aftermarket wheel, you may have to replace the whole set (happened to me with an obscure 'AMG style')

Nearly all my cars, have been "modded" in someway or another. I can safely say, anyone getting the car after me. Are getting a pampered, well cared for, well serviced, car.
With all the mods, properly fitted. Sometimes a modded car, can be a better buy. Depends who you buy it off.